A Change in Profession
by Triscribe
Summary: After battling with pirates, the five paladins and princess are de-aged by a decade or so; it's a good thing that Coran's previous position to Royal Advisor was Royal Babysitter. "In the morning, he was awoken by the sensation of a small hand tugging on his moustache..."
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I've thought about writing de-aging stories, but the fandoms I wanted to create them for always seemed to be so inundated with those types of tales already. So, when this idea came to me, I had to run with it - it's adorable, has the potential for a lot of shenanigans, and! I've not seen very many stories of this type within the Voltron fandom yet, so we've got wins all around._

 _Partial credit also needs to be given to my roommate, knightlychika on Tumblr, as I apparently first mumbled out this idea when half-asleep and promptly forgot about it by morning. But she heard, and fell in love with it, and promptly wrote down the basic idea for me._

 _Which is how I'm now able to welcome you all to the first chapter of:_

 _ **A Change in Profession**_

Chapter 1

"Oh, this was a terrible idea," Coran muttered, bringing the Castle around as he continued to fire at the enemy ships. "'I'm going to help evacuate the village', she says, 'it's the least I can do while the paladins are fighting!'" Cutting short his high-pitched impersonation of Allura, the man redirected main power to the shields, just in time to block a blast of sickly looking yellowish green energy from the flagship.

None of the inhabitants of the Castle had known who their new opponents were, only that they were attacking a lunar colony of innocent settlers. While the paladins went out in their lions to drive away the aggressors (whom Lance promptly dubbed the Space Pirates), Allura went down to the surface in order to speed up the settlers' retreat into the surrounding mountainous crags. Busy providing cover fire, Coran barely paid attention to the communications going on between the pilots.

He did note when Keith announced he'd picked up Allura, the settlers safely away.

And it was hard to miss Voltron forming, sword in hand, ready to slice apart the final pirate ship - just as it was _impossible_ to miss the massive energy blast from the enemy vessel which bathed over the entirety of the robotic warrior.

Voltron paused then.

Panicking, Coran readjusted power in the Castle once more, sending everything he had into a concentrated shot that speared through the pirate ship, thankfully destroying it in one go.

"Hello, paladins?" He asked over the comm lines. "Shiro? Allura? Anyone there?!"

There was no answer from the humans or his princess, though Voltron did give a large shudder and promptly disbanded into the five lions. Coran noted that they all proceeded back to their hangars _without_ any of the flair that the paladins would often throw in. He was also growing more and more concerned that no one responded to his hails.

Most worried for his princess, the only Altean left besides himself, Coran hurried first in the direction of the Red Lion's hangar.

It took him several minutes of hurried jogging to get there, of course, by the end of which he was breathing heavily. "Allura? Keith? Are you in there?" The Red Lion crouched down, observing him for a moment before opening up the center hatch.

The two figures that came hurtling down the ramp were not at all the ones Coran had been expecting.

"Coran!" An Allura who appeared to be about thirteen or so hollered at him. "What's happened? Where are we? Who's this strange being? Why won't he talk to me? Where's the real red paladin?" Behind her by a few feet was an even younger Keith, watching with wide eyes as he fiddled with clothes far too large for him and the few armor pieces that had yet to fall off.

"Oh, quiznak." Coran muttered, clapping a hand over his eyes.

"Coran? What's the matter with you? Where's Father?" Reluctantly, the man sighed, and knelt before his princess.

"Well, Allura, the short explanation is that you and this young fellow seem to have been hit by an unstable form of G'nee'an energy, which has removed a fair amount of your memories and reverted you to this younger state."

Both children blinked at him.

"I know, that's a lot to take in. But! We don't have time for a longer explanation, as we've got to go find Shiro and the other paladins-"

"Shiro?" Keith asked, lighting up with a hopeful expression.

"Yes, Shiro's here too, along with another pair of lads by the names of Lance and Hunk, and a young lady we call Pidge. Come along now, it's a long hike to the other hangars- oh, Keith, here, allow me." Coran helped the boy divest himself of the more ungainly armor pieces, and tweaked the settings of the nanotech jumpsuit that shrunk the black material to a much more manageable size. "Much better."

With that, he led the thirteen and nine year olds off, allowing the one to chatter as much as she pleased while the other remained entirely silent. Eventually, they reached the Black Lion's hangar, where the de-aged pilot had already disembarked and was studying his surroundings.

"Shiro!" Keith bolted to the startled teen's side, grabbing him in a tight hug and refusing to let go.

"Keith? What are you doing here?" Shiro asked, alarmed. Coran studied him with no little amount of awe for a few moments, as the black paladin looked greatly different lacking his discolored hair, his scar, a great deal of his muscle mass and about a foot of height. The one thing he was _not_ lacking, however, was his flesh and blood right arm.

"He's got the same weird ears too!" At Allura's comment, Shiro looked up and spotted them, his eyes growing very round.

"Who...?"

"Ah, Shiro, I'm aware you don't remember us, as you seem to have lost about a decade of your life and all the accompanying memories," Coran laughed nervously. "But I am Royal Advisor Coran, and this is Princess Allura of Altea."

"Um... Okay?"

"Excellent! As I'm sure you also don't remember, there are three more paladins we must go reclaim, as I'm not certain I want to see the amount of damage they can cause as children." Again, Coran sighed and rubbed at his forehead.

Blinking, Shiro rested his hand absently on the back of Keith's head, who had not moved, and nodded warily.

"Splendid. I promise, I'll do my best to explain the whole story once everyone's been assembled." The group set off once again, with Coran in the lead, Allura bouncing along behind him, and Shiro watching both with a mixture of bemused uncertainty as he kept himself between them and Keith.

Coran's ears twitched as he heard the teen whisper to his small friend. "You okay, buddy? Not hurt or anything?" He didn't catch Keith's answer, only an indistinct mumble, but Shiro's response was more than adequate. "Yeah, I'm a little scared too. But don't worry, even if they are aliens, they seem nice."

Coran took that as a very positive sign.

They reached the Yellow Lion's hangar next, where a Hunk who seemed to be a year or two younger than Keith was excitedly clambering all over the large robotic feline. If Coran didn't know any better, he'd have said that Yellow was enjoying it, too.

"Hi!" The chubby boy beamed down at them right away. "I'm Hunk! Who are you? Isn't this robot the coolest?"

Coran ran through his and Allura's introductions again, while Shiro handled his own and Keith's. They then had to convince Hunk to come down and join them, which the boy was loath to do. It wasn't until Coran mentioned that they'd have lunch once everyone was gathered together that the boy reluctantly left his new lion friend.

Allura wound up engaging him in conversation as they continued to travel, which to everyone else sounded like a non-stop, chattering stream of questions which were hardly answered before more asked in return. Keith watched the other two perplexedly, tightening his grip on Shiro's hand. Fortunately, they soon arrived at the Blue Lion's hangar.

"Hi Hunk!"

"Hi Lance! You've got a lion friend too!" The two boys gave one another hug, excitedly asked if either knew what was going on, and when the answer was no both times, turned their attention to their amused audience. "This is my best friend Lance," Hunk announced proudly. "That's Mister Coran, he's funny, and Allura, she's a princess, and Shiro, I like him, and Keith, he doesn't talk much."

"Hi!" Lance grinned at them. Coran smiled back, helped the boy adjust his baggy clothing as well, and then led the group onwards to their final destination. Lance started off as part of Allura and Hunk's continued conversation, but then fell back to peer at Keith, who pressed himself as close to Shiro's side as he could get.

"Are you shy?" Keith glared at him for the question.

"No."

"Then why are you hiding?"

"I'm not!" And with that, the two of them pulled ahead, joining Hunk and Allura.

"Okay," Coran heard Shiro mutter. "He hasn't done that so far." The man decided to take the opportunity to ask something he'd been wondering about.

"I knew that you and Keith were associated before becoming paladins, but not that it was an acquaintance lasting more than a decade."

Shiro looked at him in surprise. "Oh, well, uh, I've only known him for a couple weeks now. He was hiding in the dumpster behind our apartment building during a thunderstorm, I almost dropped a bag of trash on top of him. My dad insisted on bringing him inside to dry off, and since then I've been looking out for him, teaching him English. Guess he's kind of like my little brother, now."

"Which makes," Coran murmured. "Complete sense. Well, in that case, I'm going to expect your help to make sure his and Lance's arguments don't get too terribly out of hand."

"...Are you expecting them to argue?"

"Well, they're usually butting heads during all parts of the day as teenagers, so I'd expect much the same to occur as young boys."

"Gotcha. Well, you said earlier that there were five, ah, paladins? Who's the fifth?"

"The youngest and smallest of us all, Miss Pidge, whom you supposedly know already as well."

"I do?"

"Or, well, her brother at the very least. I don't think I'm actually aware of what Pidge's real name is... But! Her brother is Matt Holt, I know that much."

Shiro blinked. "Yeah, I know Matt. We took an astrophysics course together in school. But, I've never met his baby sister. I don't think she's even in kindergarten yet."

"You do know her name, though?"

"Why does that matter, if you call her Pidge?"

"Because she's only _been_ Pidge for a short time, and the loss of the last decade will mean she won't answer to it."

"Oh. Well, uhm... I think it might be Kaley? Kitty? Something like that."

"Oh, wonderful."

As it turned out, though, they had a more pressing issue that recalling Pidge's actual name: specifically, that of _locating_ the girl, since she was nowhere to be found in the Green Lion's hangar.

"Quiznak." Coran groaned. "Why do I feel as if this is only the beginning?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Unable to locate Pidge, Coran hastened to escort the rest of his young charges to the kitchen, where he quickly served out portions of green goo. The boys all eyed their plates with expressions of confusion, at least until Hunk picked up his spoon and tried a bit.

"Well," he said after swallowing. "It's not great, but it's okay." That was enough for Lance to try his, followed by Keith, and eventually by Shiro. Allura, of course, had dived right in with her own serving, but none of the paladins were quite willing to trust an alien's tastes, apparently.

Just as the princess was finishing and Coran was hastily debating what to do next, several squeaks sounded from the countertop.

"Mice!" Allura squealed with delight. Lance, who'd been standing next to her, jumped almost a full foot in the air at the unexpected noise, spilling his plate in the process. Coran simply sighed, grabbing a vacuum brush to get the mess up while the children all crowded around the newcomers.

"These are Altean mice," Allura informed the boys. "They are _highly_ intelligent, and keep other pests from getting into the castle."

"Heh, and these four are psychically bound to the princess as well!" Coran added, standing once more. "At least, they're supposed to be..."

The young paladins all oohed, before Hunk asked if the mice knew any tricks. In answer, Allura looked at the little quartet with an intense expression, getting all of them to study her in return. Then the tiniest mouse jumped up, used its largest companion's head as a springboard, and flipped twice before landing on the princess' shoulder.

"Cool!" All three boys cheered, and even Shiro looked impressed.

The rest of the mice found new perches on the other children, happily squeaking as they inspected the smaller paladins. Coran leaned back against the counter, watching with a content expression, until someone spoke just behind his ear.

"What're they doin'?" He jumped, spinning about in shock. Behind the cover of the ventilation shaft, wide amber eyes were watching him, framed by thick bundles of brown hair.

"Oh my stars- Miss Holt!" Coran admonished, reaching up to remove the grate and attracting everyone's attention as he did so. "Where in Altea's name have you been?!"

The tiny child didn't resist as he plucked from the vent. She remained where he set her on the floor, as well, simply sticking her thumb in her mouth and watching everyone as they watched her.

Shiro snapped his fingers and grinned. "Now I remember! Katie! That's your name, right? Katie Holt?"

She nodded, removing her thumb for a brief moment. "My mommy calls me Pidge."

"Ah," Coran's moustache twitched. "Evidently you'd have answered to that after all. Well! Now all the paladins are once again reunited. Pidge, are you hungry?"

One fed four year old later, and Coran had the entire lot settle themselves in the recreation hall, or 'living room' as the humans usually referred to it. Shiro took a seat at one end of the couch, with Keith tucked in beside him and Pidge on his lap. Allura took the other end, while Lance and Hunk settled themselves in the space in-between.

"Now that we're all assembled," Coran smiled, taking the opposite chair. "I get to bust out the old storytelling skill set! Let me see, where to start... Ah-ha. Once upon a time, there was a brave king by the name of Alfor, who ruled the beautiful planet Altea. His people were known for their peaceful ways and incredible technology, and they spread a great deal of goodwill through the universe."

"You're Alt-een, right?" Lance whispered to Allura. She nodded, before shushing him with a smile.

"Unfortunately, there was another great power in the universe, that of the Galra Empire, led by a terrible being called Zarkon. He was jealous of Altea, and wanted to claim their greatest technological feat for himself: the Voltron Lions."

As one, the children all sucked in a breath.

"These lions were more than robots, though - they had personalities, spirits of their own, and when working together with their pilots, the paladins, they were the most fearsome beasts ever to roam the stars. That wasn't their greatest power, though: the five lions could transform and combine together, uniting to form Voltron, the universe's mightiest warrior, and the only thing capable of stopping the Galra Empire.

"Because of this, Zarkon attacked Altea," Coran had to steel himself to ignore Allura's startled gasp. "King Alfor was losing, and knew it. So, he had the lions scattered and hidden, as well as his daughter and closest friend. Many years later, an encounter between the Galra and a small planet by the name of Earth led to five new paladins finding the lions, and bringing them together once more."

"You mean us?" Shiro asked skeptically.

"Indeed. The mighty leader Shiro, who was accepted by the Black Lion and became leader of the Voltron team. His steadfast right hand Keith, who tamed the temperamental Red Lion, and little Pidge, who joined the Green Lion and began learning all she could of Altean technology. Also, Lance, who bonded to the Blue Lion and became Voltron's most vocal paladin, as well as Hunk, who found the Yellow Lion and took his place as the team's firmest support." Coran finished up with a pleased expression.

"...I don't remember doing that." Keith stated.

"Ah, that's because in our most recent battle, pirates caught you all with a blast of G'nee'an energy, which can be unpredictable at the best of times. Because of this, you all reverted to a younger age and lost your memories of the previous ten years."

"Well, then, how do we get back to how we were?" Allura was the one to ask, a pensive expression on her face.

Coran opened his mouth to answer her, but stalled. "Ah. Hm. I'm not sure, actually. Without access to the resources I used to, there might not be a way to reverse the effects."

"...So, can we go play now?" Lance asked.

"Mm, yes, I suppose so-" he scrambled to finish as both Hunk and Lance lept to their feet, ready to run off. "-but you have to stay together! Don't break anything! And come back here when you're done!"

"You don't have much experience with kids, do you?" Shiro asked with a smirk, pushing Keith off the couch so he could run after the other boys.

"Of course I do," Coran replied, indignant. "Just with well-behaved ones, such as Princess Al- Allura?"

He'd just noticed the girl sitting very still on the couch, staring down at her folded hands.

"Coran... What happened to my father after he hid us and the lions?"

The man swallowed. "That- that was- I'm afraid he didn't live much past that, Allura. He's gone." He winced as tears welled up in the girl's eyes.

Pidge, who'd been watching from Shiro's lap, took that as her permission to crawl down the length of the couch and wrap her arms around the princess. "Don' cry, 'lura. It'll be okay." Choking on a sob, Allura hugged the child back, burying her face in the mass of fluffy brown hair. Shiro shifted awkwardly, stuck in the same conundrum as Coran of having absolutely no idea what to do.

The three boys chose that moment to race back into the room, coming to a screeching halt as they registered the state Allura was in. Hunk went up and hugged her legs, while Lance clambered up onto the couch's arm to put his arms around both girls. Keith dithered for a moment before following their example, hopping back onto the couch as well in order to pat Allura's shoulder. He then shot a glare at Shiro, who went ahead and shifted down the length of the furniture so as to carefully place an arm around the princess too.

Distantly, Coran recognized that even de-aged as they were, the paladins of Voltron were still working as a team.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Once Allura had calmed down, the smaller children insisted she help them explore the Castle. That gave Coran the opportunity he needed to pour through some of their archive databases in an effort to find something capable of dispelling the effects of G'nee'an energy.

Unfortunately, there was nothing besides the different Altean remedies he was already aware of - none of which were possible to use as all the necessary ingredients were native to his homeworld, and could be found nowhere else. There was, of course, the route of experimentation to find substitutes for Friizildi flowers and Laticean crystals, but Coran wasn't quite willing to go that route just yet, not with Allura and the paladins' lives on the line.

So, it was a greatly discouraged and rather fatigued Royal Advisor who made his way from the archive room to the kitchen, and walked straight into the outright war to end all food fights.

Green goo painted the walls, the counters, the floors; assorted other ingredients had also been used as ammunition, scattered about like polka dots where they'd landed. And laughing in the middle of it all the children, still merrily barraging one another - it appeared to be divided along the lines of Lance, Hunk and Keith versus Shiro and Allura, though the latter pair also had Pidge on their side who appeared to be simply sitting and giggling as she splattered both herself and the teens with more goo.

"What in Altea's name...?" Coran didn't speak very loud, but it was enough for Allura to hear him, and the princess' suddenly horrified expression caused the others to come to a stop as well.

"Ah- Coran, we- uh- we were going to clean up before you returned!" Allura stammered out.

"Honest," Shiro added, as the younger boys also all nodded their heads vigorously. Pidge continued to giggle and jump through the piles of goo.

"Regardless of your intentions, this place needs a thorough scrubbing - and then all of _you_ will need a thorough scrubbing as well. Everyone hold where you are, I'll go get the cleaning brushes and disposal buckets..."

Soon enough, he had five of the six children working to get up the mess they'd made, shame-faced or merely unhappy by turns. Little Pidge, on the other hand, had a bit of a hard time helping, so Coran went ahead and took her to get a bath first.

"I'll warn you now," he told the child, entering his bathroom. "I've not attempted to bath a wriggly toddler since Princess Allura was your age, so this might get tedious for the both of us."

Pidge blinked at him.

"Yes yes, I know it seems unbelievable there's a skill I'm not as accomplished at as I used to be, but we all have our faults." Coran winked at her, and the girl let loose a quiet giggle. "Now, first thing's first, let's get you out of that jumpsuit."

After removing the green and brown stained outfit while the tub filled with cleaning solution, Coran then plunked Pidge down into the liquid and allowed her to play a while with the orange bubbles that formed. He dropped her jumpsuit into the cleaning cube, but was then struck by the thought that none of the paladins would likely enjoy being forced to wear only their suits or overly large clothing. Considering where there might be properly sized attire in the storage rooms, he went back to the bathtub and helped Pidge with washing her hair.

By the time the girl was thoroughly cleaned, dried off and wrapped in a fluffy white towel, she was also yawning a great deal. Coran went ahead and settled her in his own bed for the meantime, before going to check on the other children.

They were approximately sixty percent done with cleaning up his kitchen, so the man left them to it and went on a hunt for proper clothing.

When the others all finished with their own baths and showers, they found new outfits waiting on the beds of their rooms. For Allura, it was one of her own dresses, a pale cream cloth highlighted with pink and pale blue. Shiro was given a short-sleeved black shirt with silver leggings and an accompanying vest, which he admired for a few minutes before putting on. Keith and Lance got matching shirts and shorts in their respectively preferred red and blue, while Hunk found a bright yellow and tan outfit waiting for him. Coran also located a pale green dress that he wrangled the still-dozing Pidge into, and gave himself a congratulatory pat on the back once he'd succeeded.

The little girl woke up from her nap as Coran was carrying her to kitchen, where everyone had once again gathered. They enjoyed a quiet meal - which did not, fortunately, contain anymore examples of wild food slinging - after which, pleas were given for a proper story of Voltron's adventures.

Coran happily obliged, and detailed the team's earliest battle, when they found a way past their differences in order to unite the lions and defeat the Galra ship. When he finished, Shiro and Allura were the only still awake.

"How are we going to handle sleeping arrangements?" Shiro asked in a whisper. "Keith's got his own bed at home, but he'll usually wake up and come find me in the middle of night anyway..."

"In that case, I think it would be better if he started the night with you, and perhaps the other boys as well." The last thing Coran needed was one of the children waking up and wandering about looking for anyone else, only to become lost in the Castle.

"Pidge is welcome to sleep with me as well, Coran." Allura volunteered, running her fingers through the child's short locks.

"Excellent. Shiro, if you'll carry Keith and Lance, I'll take Hunk and we can journey to your room first." They set off in a little parade through the halls, attempting to keep the sleeping children from startling awake due to any jostling. Once Shiro was settled on his bed with the three boys tucked in around and on top of him, the Alteans bid him goodnight, with directions of how to get to their own quarters should a need arise in the night.

Then Coran saw Allura back to her bedroom, making sure that both she and Pidge were comfortable before retreating to his own bed. There, the man was barely able to change into his sleeping garments before collapsing with a muffled groan.

If the rest of his days were spent looking after de-aged paladins and royalty, his hair was going to turn whiter than Allura's in short order...

In the morning, he was awoken by the sensation of a small hand tugging on his moustache.

"It's mornin', Mister Coran!" Lance chirped. "Time for breakfast!" The boy was answered with an aggrieved chuckle.

"So it is, Lance." Yawning, Coran sat up and stretched, idly glancing at the clock in his ceiling as he did so.

"I tried tellin' Shiro, but he just told me to go back to sleep." Lance informed him.

"That doesn't surprise me, considering we've only barely passed your dawn hour..."

"Mama always has us get up that early, so's we can help with breakfast." The eight year old's head tilted to one side. "Are _you_ gonna need help makin' breakfast, Coran?"

"Not usually, though I suppose you're welcome to assist me if you so wish."

"Yay!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The day was, for Coran at least, understandably chaotic.

First off, he had to find ways of keeping Lance busy while breakfast was prepared, allowing the boy to 'help' without causing any damage. Then Shiro entered the kitchen in a panic, frantic that one of his charges had slipped away while the teen continued to sleep. He only got a moment's calm upon spotting Lance, though, before remembering that he'd just left Keith and Hunk to their own devices. Coran had to chuckle as Shiro darted away again. Allura arrived not long afterward, yawning and asking when the morning meal would be served. As gently as he could, Coran reminded the princess that no one would be eating until they were all gathered together - including the small child who'd been taken to bed with her the night before. The younger Altean blinked at him blearily for a moment, before comprehension and horror dawned in her eyes. It was then Allura's turn to dash out of the kitchen, nearly running into Shiro and the other boys in her haste. Coran was just getting the young paladins to take their plates to the dining hall when a quiet yawn caught his attention. Sighing, the man went up to the same ventilation cover as the day before, opening it up and pulling a still-sleepy Pidge out just as Allura returned in a greatly distressed state. She calmed upon seeing that the tiny girl was not, in fact, lost in the castle, but still received a warning look from Coran as she accepted his handing the four year old over.

Chaos. Complete and utter.

It only got worse from there.

Lance and Hunk wanted to see more of the castle, which Allura insisted she was fine to handle showing off. The two boys tried to pull Keith along with them again, only for the other boy to unexpectedly resist, desiring to stay with Shiro. In the end, to avoid a huge fight between the children, Shiro agreed to go as well, which Keith was happy with. The five of them set off while Coran both cleaned up from breakfast and kept a close eye on Pidge, who seemed to be enjoying some sort of made-up game ducking under and around the dining hall furniture. At least, that's what she was doing up until the moment Coran first turned his back, and then the girl made a break for the nearest door.

"Ah-ah!" Fortunately, the Altean had been expecting such a move, and he was quick to snatch up the child. "No, Pidge, I need you to stay with me right now."

Pouting, she scrunched up her eyes and prepared to cry.

"I'm afraid that will do you no good-" Coran winced when the piercing wails started up. By the stars, Allura had never sobbed or screamed so loudly!

When the others hurried back to the kitchen, attracted by the sound of Pidge's cries, they found the girl placed upon a countertop bawling her eyes out as Coran attempted to simultaneously cover his ears and put away the newly-cleaned dishes. Hunk immediately sprinted over, reaching for Pidge and asking what was wrong.

He yelped when Coran smacked the back of his out-stretched hand with a spoon. "None of that, Hunk, Pidge is in time out right now for attempting to run off again."

"Oh." The chubby boy sent her a sympathetic look, which only caused the smaller child to redouble her caterwauling.

"How long is she _going_ to be in time out?" Shiro asked, hands twitching as though he too wanted to cover his ears.

"Until she stops this atrocious behavior, of course." And just like that, at Coran's words, Pidge fell silent. He smiled in her direction. "Now, see, that's much better. You're allowed to play with the others again, Pidge."

Beaming, the little girl jumped off the counter and onto Hunk's back. Startled, it took him a moment to recover, but then accepted the extra weight with a grin.

"Can we go build a pillow fort?" Lance suddenly asked.

Coran sighed. "Well, at least it ought to be easier to clean up than the food fight... Yes, alright, go on." The younger children all stampeded out with cheers, while Allura and Shiro followed a bit more sedately. Coran went back to putting away dishes.

Half an hour later, after he'd finished cleaning up the kitchen and taken some headache medication, the man went to locate his charges. After checking the different bedrooms and accompanying storage closets, and shaking his head at the lack of pillows, blankets and mattresses, Coran headed for the living room. And there found a sight he didn't think he'd ever forget.

Couch and chairs had been arranged into a square shape in the middle of the room, covered over with sheets with the gaps filled in with pillows. From within, there came the constant murmur of hushed voices and laughter, something Coran was glad to hear. Then, he got an idea...

"Ackle, grackle, frackle and fry," he growled, hunching his shoulders and taking great, stomping steps around the fort. "That's the blood of a princess, smells I!"

"Oh, no!" Allura's delighted voice reached his ears. "It's the Great Grackle Monster! He's getting ready to attack the castle! Paladins, prepare for battle!"

"ROAR!" Coran bellowed as he took hold of two of the chairs and started to shake them.

"CHARGE!" Immediately, Keith, Lance and Hunk exploded out from the fort, scattering pillows everywhere as they tackled the man. Feigning rage, Coran attempted to dislodge them by spinning around, only for Shiro to sneak up behind him and help Pidge leap onto the man's shoulders.

"Quickly!" Allura cried, also scrambling out from the pillow fort. "The Great Grackle Monster's only weakness is the power of hugs!" Her words caused all four children to cling to Coran with all their might, and he groaned, staggering about.

"No!" He shouted. "Your attack is strong, but my might is stronger!"

"Shiro!" Keith gestured for the teen to join them, so he grabbed onto Coran as well, Allura joining in a moment later.

"No- it's- too- much-!" Slowly, Coran sank to his knees, before flopping over with a dramatic groan. "I've been bested by the Paladins of Voltron! Inconceivable!"

Laughing, the children promptly rearranged themselves to pile atop him in a great heap. Pidge took place of pride by kneeling on Coran's chest and leaning forward to look him in the eye.

"Now _you_ in time out!" She beamed. The others couldn't contain their snickers, and Coran chuckled as well.

"Yes, I suppose I am. That's what I get for attacking such a well-defended castle!"

A moment later, the real Castle's alarms started blaring.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _A moment later, the real Castle's alarms started blaring._

Everyone froze for a moment, before Coran freed himself and started delivering orders. "Allura, take the others to your chambers and stay there. Lock the entrance, don't leave under any circumstances without my orders and keep Pidge out of the vents!"

"What are you going to do?" Shiro asked, picking up the frightened four year old as he did so. "What's going on?"

"Just go!" Coran didn't look back as he took off for the bridge, trusting that Allura would recognize the alarm as meaning a hostile ship was approaching and explain it to the other children.

After the battle, he'd put the Castle into orbit around the moon, a decision Coran was now regretting. Really, he should have taken them to a safer stretch of space, one free of Galra and inhabited by enough other intergalactic traffic no one would pay them any mind. But nooo, he had to be distracted by caring for two teenagers and four small children!

Fussing at himself as he ran, Coran made it to the bridge just in time to see a screen pop up with security footage of a group of aliens cutting their way in through an airlock. He hastily slammed a hand onto the control console, activating the Castle's more, _intimidating,_ security measures.

Unfortunately, they didn't want to power up.

"Oh, for Altea's sake-!" Coran ducked down and opened up a panel to see the interior of the console. The man weaseled his way in as far as he could go, checking all the circuitry and wiring, hoping to spot an easy-to-fix problem. And there, aaall the way in the back, was a switch disconnected from the rest of the electronic components.

Coran's fingertips were just about to push it back into place when there was the distinct impression of a weapon being pressed into the small of his back.

"Come out slowly," the alien being growled. "Or you won't be walking anywhere anytime soon."

Gritting his teeth, Coran backed out, leaving the switch disconnected. The last thing he needed at this point was for the ship's defenses to activate and be turned against himself or the children.

 _The children._

"This is a paladin of Voltron?" One of the six aliens in the room asked doubtfully. They were a motley bunch, with a ragged assortment of garments and both high- and low-tech weaponry, but each one looked like a capable warrior.

"Naw, he looks more like a butler," another one chortled.

"Still, he's gotta have somethin' t' do with 'em if he's here." A third stated, stepping forward and jabbing her gun into Coran's face. "So where are they? Th' paladins?"

"Vacation." He replied dryly.

The warriors all looked at him with disbelief.

"You think I'm joking? They've been planning for this break for months, getting ready to head out a few days ago, when that wretched pirate attack came up-"

All six aliens suddenly growled, and Coran gained a rather clearer idea of just who they were dealing with: survivors of the battle who were out for revenge. It also drove home just how important it was for him not to give away the children's true location, or else they'd all be in for it.

"When will they be back?" The pirate who'd initially ordered him out from the console asked.

"Back? Erm... Let's see, it was going to be two weeks at home, plus half a month's travel time both ways-"

"They're going to be gone _that long?"_

"I know, terrible isn't it? And in the meantime, I've been left to keep everything up and running, resupply, dust the furniture-"

"We can't wait that long." Another of them looked to the leader of the group, the rather large and intimidating female who still had her gun in Coran's face.

"Right. We'll take this ship and sell it to the Galra, then. That'll be revenge enough. Take him," she gestured to the suddenly tense Altean. "To whatever passes as a holding cell aboard this thing."

"Gotcha boss. Just, er, where would that be, 'xactly?"

"How the grak should I know? Just get him outta here, locked up someplace."

"'Kay. C'mon, moustache man."

Suppressing a sigh, Coran got to his feet and started walking, with one pirate in front and another behind. They passed quite a few rooms that would have held a prisoner just fine, but he never made mention of it. Then, the pair actually started checking behind different doors, and Coran held his breath as they got closer and closer to the hall where Allura's quarters were.

"'Ere, this outta do." Without any sort of ceremony, they pushed him into an empty supply closet, and shut the door. As they locked it and departed again, Coran sat himself down against wall and let loose a sigh of mingled relief and anxiety.

"Well, this day has taken a decidedly bad turn," he muttered.

"I liked makin' th' pillow fort better, too." Jumping, the man turned an incredulous eye up to the cover of the closet's entrance into the vent system. Pidge was looking down at him from the grate.

"Didn't I instruct the others to _not_ let you into the ventilation works?" Nevertheless, Coran stood to open it up and pull her out, sitting down again with the child in his lap.

"Yeah, but they were all worried 'bout you, so I decided to go lookin'." Pidge answered in her usual matter of fact tone.

"Clearly. Well you're here now, little one. Hm..."

"Mister Coran?"

"Mm?"

"You got a thinkin' look on your face. Matt always look's like that when he's thinkin' up what Mommy calls 'mis-chee-vee-us' b'havior."

Chuckling, the man gave her a tap on the nose. "And that is because, Miss Pidge, I am thinking up mischievous ways that we can scare these pirates off of our ship and back into space where they belong."

"Can I help?"

"Of course you can! The first step, as a matter of fact, is going to completely depend on your involvement..."

 _A/N: A bit short today, but I promise, tomorrow's chapter will be nice and long. /departs leaving a menacing chuckle in the air_

 _-Tri_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Oh no!" Coran hollered in a high-pitched panic. "Oh, this terrible! Dreadful! Oh, help! Help! Someone, quick!"

The closet door was unlocked and slid aside, revealing his pair of wary pirate guards. Their expressions turned to surprise, though, when they found Coran backed up into the far corner, Pidge standing on the floor just in front of him.

"Help!" He cried out to them. "It's a Screaming Pidginator! Their wails can deafen and kill! They travel in huge swarms! If there's one aboard the ship, we're probably infested! Oh, please help!" With that, Pidge turned to face the pirates, scrunched up her face, and let out an almighty, wailing scream. Both the invaders promptly clapped their hands over their ears and backed away. Coran shrieked as well, mimicking the gesture but also falling down and convulsing as he did so. Pidge took her caterwauling to an even higher level, and as Coran pretended to expire the pirates took off running.

The two kept up their charade for a few moments more, before leaving off and breaking down into hopeless chuckles.

"Well, that went perfectly according to plan. Thank you kindly, Miss Pidge."

"Welcome, Coran!"

"Alright, let us go get the others and prepare for Phase Two, shall we?"

"Ye-es!"

-Change-

"There's no such thing as a 'Screaming Pidginator', you idiots."

"You didn't hear it, boss! That thing was a demon!"

"Yeah, it killed th' butler-moustache guy!"

Growling, the small group's leader stepped forward to slap some sense back into her idiot underlings. "It was probably a trick, morons! Now get the grak back there and make sure t' kill anything that moves!"

"Y-yes, boss..." Reluctantly, the pair turned to go, but froze when a distant wailing started up. "Oh-no."

"What is that?" Another of the pirates asked.

"Th-the Pidginator! That's the s-s-sound it makes!"

All of the pirates grew nervous as the screaming intensified, rebounding and echoing as though there were dozens of the small creatures, not just one.

"Wh-whole s-s-swarms, he s-said," one of the two guards muttered, eyes darting to every small shadows. "Sh-ship's inf-fest-ted!"

"Then we use some disinfectant," the leader growled, hefting her gun up a bit higher. "C'mon."

They stuck close together while traversing the ship's halls, the screaming seeming to fade in and out but a constant background noise. It didn't help when the lights started to flicker around them, creating large sections of shadow. Then, the pirates turned a corner, and halted in their tracks. From the intersection where they stood all the way to the next one and out of sight, a strange green goo was splattered around, as though several different lifeforms had exploded. One of the two guards started muttering about 'Pidginators' again.

"Oh, shut up already." Another of the pirates shoved at him, clearly worried herself but trying to hide it. Setting off again, the six of them avoided the goo piles as well as they could, though one idiot inevitably stepped in some.

And promptly set off an explosion.

Howling as he was tossed away, the guy landed right in another pile, setting off several explosions that started a chain reaction. The rest of his companions took off, though two more were taken down before being able to reach the safety of the next hallway. Those who escaped were the leader and the pair who'd first been scared off by the initial Pidginator.

"Comin' 'ere was a bad idea!"

"Shut yer trap and come on!" Thoroughly disgusted at having lost half of her remaining forces, the leader headed back towards the airlock where there own dingy little ship was waiting. Halfway there, though, she tripped on something invisible stretched across the hall and fell flat on her face, gun sliding away. The two idiots didn't fare any better, also tripping and losing their weapons. Grumbling to herself, the leader started to go and retrieve her blaster, only to freeze when the screaming, which had gone silent after the explosions, started up again _right around the corner._

"Run!" She shrieked.

-Change-

Smiling with an indulgent air, Coran allowed the children to go watch the last of the fleeing pirates through the windows while he got a few of the training drones to help clear out the bodies of those invaders killed in the goo explosions. Such a thing was not fit for young minds to see, after all.

"Well now!" He announced upon returning to where the young paladins and princess were still giggling amongst themselves. "That was a splendid victory, and I daresay we've won ourselves a celebration for it. But first, we do need to tidy up what's left of our traps and retrieve those recording devices! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather not be walking down a hall only to jump out of my skin when a swarm of Screaming Pidginators starts up!" Laughing despite the tasks they had to do, the children scattered to their different stations. Keith and Hunk went to get up the trip wires while Shiro and Allura disposed of the dropped weapons and started mopping up the goo hall, and Lance and Pidge crawled through the ventilation ducts to get up all the speakers they'd planted barely an hour before.

Once finished, they all met up again with Coran on the ship's bridge, where he'd just finished using a wormhole to take them to a safer sector of space.

"Alrighty, what shall we do for our celebration?" He asked them.

"Treats in the pillow fort!" Hunk promptly stated, an idea which the others all agreed to. And so, Coran led the group back to the kitchen, where he started preparing a mixture of Altean desserts and some similar to those of Earth that Hunk had devised in his older form. Allura and the yellow paladin remained to help him, while Shiro took the others to repair their pillow fort, even making it a bit more spread out and open. By the time that the food was all ready, it had turned into more of a pillow playhouse, with much easier ways of crawling in and out.

More exhausted than he'd have liked to let on, Coran simply laid down in the central section, content to let the children play on and around him, occasionally calling out a warning when any of the mock-battles got to rough. Eventually, Pidge came over and curled up beside him, falling asleep with a smile on her face. Through the course of the next hour, the rest of the children also found themselves dozing off against Coran and one another. The man himself followed suit, glad for the extra rest after his harried day.

He woke up when there was a sudden weight increase. Glancing about in befuddlement, Coran was rather startled to see that all of his charges were inexplicably themselves again, still slumbering away in the same positions. Pidge was tucked against his side, head resting upon his outstretched arm, while Hunk sprawled overtop both Coran's legs. Allur and Shiro were curled together against his other side, with both Lance and Keith laying across their laps.

Blinking, Coran couldn't help but smile, and go back to sleep himself.

It was a good long while before anyone else awakened, and then everyone was brought to full awareness by Lance's indignant squawking and flailing. In the mad scramble afterwards to get up and separate themselves, the pillow fort suffered a bit of damage, but remained mostly intact. Coran himself didn't bother to move, still lying in the center of it as he listened to his princess and the paladins start comparing fuzzy memories of their time spent as children.

As the others dealt with the rush of embarrassment, Pidge fell silent, and wound up crawling back under the sheet roof in order to stare quizzically at Coran.

"You gave me a bath?"

"You needed it."

Smiling with his eyes closed, Coran simply patted the mattress beside him, where Pidge promptly laid down and made herself at home.

"The only reason this isn't awkward is because I'm not fully awake yet," she warned him, tugging at the material of the enlarged green dress she wore.

"Duly noted, Miss Screaming Pidginator."

Once the rest of the team realized their smallest member had gone back into the fort, they reluctantly returned one by one as well to finish their naps. Lance rather pointedly set himself on the opposite side of Keith, who took up a position next to where Shiro and Allura were most definitely not cuddling, but even so there was a great deal more of a relaxed air than before they'd all been de-aged.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Hunk mumbled with a grin. "But I kinda had fun being a kid again."

There was silence for a few moments, before a few murmurs of assent were made.

Later, they would have to return to their formal duties, but in the meantime, the members of Voltron were content to let themselves relax a bit longer. And one very tired Royal Babysitter turned Advisor was happy to let them.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

"So, let me get this straight," Shiro tried to muffle his grin. "We scared off a bunch of pirates with nothing more than some exploding goo, a few trip wires, and the recorded sound of Pidge throwing a tantrum?"

"Replayed and amplified sound of Pidge throwing a tantrum. And believe me, she made for a rather terrifying swarm of monsters."

"I don't know if I should be insulted by that or not."

"Oh no, it's definitely a compliment to compared to a _swarm._ "

"Wasn't asking you, Lance."

"I still can't get over the fact that Pidge wore a dress!"

"Hunk!"

"What?"

" _I_ still can't believe that we didn't demolish the Castle in our younger states..."

"Are you questioning my ability to keep half a dozen youths under control, Allura?"

"No no, Coran, that wasn't what I meant at all-"

"Besides, it was only the rest of these guys who would have been a danger, you and I were still teenagers."

"Ah, yes, that must be why you two were the ones to escalate that food fight to a food war."

"How do you know that, Coran? You weren't even in the room at the time-"

"No, but I reviewed the security footage this morning."

All six youths stared at him.

"...Security footage?" Lance asked weakly.

"Indeed! And don't worry, I've got it all stored away on my personal data-cubes, so none of you can use it for blackmail material against one another without my express permission." And truly, the expressions of utter dismay on their faces were the best things Coran had seen in the last three days.

 _A/N: And that's the end of this mad tale! I hope you folks all enjoyed, and will consider looking through my other Voltron stuff here and on tumblr, because I'm always coming up with new ideas and insanity. So long for now,_

 _-Triscribe_


End file.
